


Angels Will Die

by lewisandharold



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Angel!Au, Angels, Fantasy, M/M, and niall goes to the zoo alone:(, but dont worry, theres plenty of love to go around
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-06-11
Updated: 2013-08-07
Packaged: 2017-12-14 14:52:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/838130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lewisandharold/pseuds/lewisandharold
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>‘These boys are angels. Literally. But when their Commander makes a deal with the devil, all hell breaks loose.’</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Enter Heaven

**Author's Note:**

> hello there, this fic will be really really long and i post every other monday. happy reading, and i apologize in advance for what is to come :)

The house is quiet as the five boys sleep. The only thing that might be heard would be clocks, if there were any here. Heaven doesn’t need clocks, though, because it revolves around instinct and compassion. This instinct is what caused Liam to stir in his warm bed, knowing that his day would soon begin. Early morning light trickled lazily through the window near the head of his bed, barely bothering to creep around the frothy white curtains which hung there. Liam twisted his face into the silk cover of his pillow and let out an exaggerated sigh. It’s not that he does not want to wake up, he just dreads having to wake up his other four friends because it’s always such a pain in the arse. One might think that, being angels, they are above early-morning grogginess, but that is just another trait that followed them to Heaven.

With a massive yawn and a light shiver, Liam scrubbed the sleep from his eyes, letting his feet hit the cold floor of his bedroom. Time to wake up. He wandered to the bathroom to warm up with a shower because it felt like he still had time before the other boys needed to rise, and he knew that Niall would want to hold on to his pillow until the last possible moment.

Across the hall, Louis rolled off his bed and dragged the quilt with him. He toed on a pair of nearby slippers, creeping from his room and into Harry’s bed to snuggle him awake. Louis and Harry’s rooms were both rather basic affairs, coloured in creams and tans with clothes and miscellaneous items strewn about, but Harry’s room was somehow cozier. Harry groaned and pulled the covers over his head when he felt the mattress sag next to him. Louis smiled at how Harry’s feet poked out at the bottom of the bed.

“Harry, wake up. We have to be leaving fairly soon,” Louis said, nudging Harry with his quilted elbow, “and that means that you have to feed me because I can never get the eggs to taste right.” Harry pulled the blankets down just enough to expose his wild curls and frowning green eyes. He squinted to adjust to the morning light.

“Do you have any idea what time it is?” he grumbled.

“Why yes,” Louis untangled his arm from the quilt wrapped around him and mimed checking his wrist for a watch that wasn’t there. “It’s time to wake up and feed your best friend.”

“You sure? I’m pretty sure it’s leave-Harry-alone-to-sleep time. Maybe you need to check your wrist again,” said Harry as he tucked the covers under his chin and rolled to face away from Louis.

Louis frowned and laid his body down flush with Harry’s, spooning the taller boy, “Awh, don’t be like that Haz. I swear we go through this same conversation every morning. I come in here for an early cuddle and ask you ever so sweetly to get up and you always grumble about it. You and I both know that within the next five minutes you’ll give in and get up, anyway, so why wait?” Louis whined and rubbed his nose against the back of Harry’s neck. There was a moment of silence before Harry craned his head to look back at Louis and shoot him a glare. Louis simply smiled because he knew there was no heat behind his friend’s expression; Harry was simply not a fan of mornings.

Harry sighed, “Alright, alright - so the usual eggs and bacon, then?” Louis hopped up and clapped his hands together once, smiling even bigger and nodding excitedly. Once Harry was vertical before him, Louis pulled him into a tight hug, wrapping them both in his quilt and pressing a light kiss to Harry’s temple.

“Good morning, angel.”

 

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

 

Liam emerged from the bathroom in a cloud of steam with a towel wrapped loosely around his waist. He sauntered over to his dresser in search of a fresh outfit, but all he found was a lone pair of old boxers that were sporting a few holes and questionable stains. Sliding on the boxers, he wondered if maybe he could ask Zayn to borrow some clothes for the day.

After he toweled off his body properly, Liam tossed his towel aside and went to knock on Zayn’s door. He could hear Harry and Louis in the kitchen starting breakfast and he was glad he wouldn’t have to be the one to wake them up as he usually did. Liam raised his hand to knock on the door, but decided that Zayn wouldn’t hear it and just walked right in. The way that Zayn looked when he slept was possibly the greatest thing in all of heaven and earth, Liam thought. Perhaps it was because his sleeping face was all soft lines and supple skin as opposed to the sharp angles he wore when he was awake.  Liam had the urge to graze his fingers along the side of his friend’s cheek and down his neck, so he did without much thought. Zayn’s lips twitched into a small smile before he recognized the fact that his sleep was being interrupted, causing him to growl and swat the hand touching his face.

“Zayn, it’s me. Wake up,” Liam said softly, crossing the room to pull the heavy curtains open and expose the details of the room around him. Zayn’s room was dark and mysterious, much like its tenant. The furniture was made of dark woods with glossy finishes, and it may or may not have made Liam want to curl up on the chaise lounge in the corner with Zayn and a blanket forever. That particular moment was not one that lent itself to such an action, though. “Come on, man,” Liam chided when Zayn didn’t stir. “You gotta get up and find me some clothes to wear because all of mine are dirty.” Liam picked up a shirt that was folded on a nearby shelf and held it up so his friend might see. “You should wear this one, though. It’s my favorite on you. Goes nice with those boots I got you for your seventy-fifth Awakening anniversary.” That was a good anniversary, Liam thought. Sometimes he couldn’t believe that Zayn had been an angel for seventy-five human years, and he had the pleasure of knowing him all but one of them.

Zayn let out a loud groan and rolled to look at the shirt in his friend’s hands.

“Alright, yeah, I’ll wear that one. You can just dig through my dresser and wear whatever, it’s all fair game,” he said, sitting up and running a hand through his dark hair. Liam smiled and grabbed a gray shirt and black skinny-leg trousers. He made his way out the door, patting Zayn’s olive cheek as he passed. Zayn said nothing, grimacing at the cheerful look in his friend’s warm brown eyes,

“Good morning, angel”

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

 

Breakfast was ready and there was steaming tea in five mugs, but there were only four boys in the kitchen. Louis and Harry shared a meaningful look with Liam and Zayn and they puffed a collective sigh. It was time to wake Niall. And everybody knew that Niall slept like a log and woke like a bear might, if one was to throw a rock at it. They gathered round and put their hands up, poised for the usual rock-paper-scissors match. Nobody wanted to be the one to disturb Niall’s slumber. He might have been one of the most laughable, carefree angels out there, but it was no secret that he would passive-aggressively resent the first face he saw in the morning for a good few hours.

“You know what? This is just silly,” Louis exclaimed. Three heads turned to look at him with varying confused expressions. “I mean really, why do we have to make such a big deal of waking Niall up? I say, we all just run in there and jump on him, that way we all share the blame. It’s not like he can shun us all at once!”

“I don’t know if that’s the best idea…”

“No way, he’ll just hate us all!”

“Sounds brilliant, count me in!”

They all responded at once, so the only way Louis could match words to people was through their facial expressions. Harry was with him, Zayn was out, and Liam just looked worried. Louis frowned, furrowing his brow. Then he glanced over at a grinning Harry, who shifted his eyes at the other two boys and cocked an eyebrow meaningfully. Bouncing his eyebrows twice in response, Louis and Harry hatched a plan without a single word. Liam recognized the mischief a moment too late as Louis lunged for him and Harry grabbed at Zayn.

They hauled the two unwilling boys out if the kitchen and up the stairs to Niall’s bedroom door. Louis turned the handle roughly and shoved his shoulder hard against the door. He lost his balance when his toes got caught on Zayn’s ankle just before he could compensate for the open space, and began to fall into the doorway. Harry, with Zayn and Liam sandwiched between them, grabbed onto the hood of Louis’ jumper and the forward motion caused them all to topple over into Niall’s room. Kneecaps and elbows met crotches and ribcages but none of them dared to make a sound in response. Eight wide eyes flashed the blonde boy sleeping soundly in the nearby bed. As if on cue, Niall let out a loud snore to signal that he was still unconscious. The boys on the floor let out a big sigh all at once and began to scramble to their feet and rub the sore places on their bodies from the fall. Before they could escape, Louis casually shifted them further into the room and shut the door with a note of finality. Three heads turned to look at him at the sound of the click of the lock, and Louis smiled darkly.

“Well I suppose if we’re going to do this, we might as well do it big, yeah?” Zayn said cautiously. They all exchanged looks and finally smiled, forming a plan. Louis went over to the bed and tip-toed his way to stand on the mattress over the boy. Harry, Liam, and Zayn followed suit until they were all standing around Niall’s sleeping form. He really did sleep like a log.

“Alright,” Harry whispered, “in three.. two.. ONE!!” Suddenly everybody was jumping on and around Niall and shouting nonsense at the top of their lungs. Niall’s eyes opened so wide that they were surely close to popping out of his head and he screamed, high-pitched and shocking. In his state he couldn’t quite comprehend what was going on around him, so he jumped out of bed and sprinted out the door and fell down the stairs. His friends heard his body tumble down the carpeted steps and just stood there looking at each other, still on Niall’s bed.

“Well that was unexpected,” Liam observed.

“Did you hear his scream? I didn’t think a boy could even make that noise.”

“Should we go check on him or…”

“I’m pretty sure he hates us all, now.”

There was a pause before Harry shouted in the direction of the stairs, “Hey Nialler, are you alright?” A groan floated their way and they moved to go see its owner. At the bottom of the stairs, with limbs splayed out in a way that had to be uncomfortable, Niall stared back at them. There was still some confusion in his blue eyes, but the flush in his cheeks suggested that he was more embarrassed than anything. They all looked down at him, and with apologetic smiles said,

“Good morning, angel”

 

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

 

Surprisingly, Niall wasn’t too upset; he had simply gotten to his feet and brushed himself off. He turned on his heel to go to the kitchen and began stealing food off the other boys’ plates and piling it on his own so his breakfast was a whole mountain next to their mole-hills. They tried to protest, but Niall glared playfully at them.

“I fell down the stairs because you arse holes came in and scared the piss out of me. I think I deserve a couple extra helpings.” He paused then, looking at Harry, “and ur, thanks for cooking and such.”

“Sure, mate, anytime. Louis helped,” Harry replied, wrapping an arm around Louis and smiling fondly. He grabbed his own plate then, and ushered everybody to the table to eat. That morning could have been worse; Niall could have simply ignored them forever. Instead, Niall instigated a small food-fight and Liam, who never wanted to participate to begin with, ended up with bacon bits in his short brown hair.

After breakfast, it felt like it was time to head to the Dispatch Hall, so the boys dispersed to get ready for the day; except Liam, who was already dressed. Louis and Harry bumped into each other while coming out of their rooms and discovered that they were wearing almost identical blue shirts. Great minds think alike, they supposed. Niall emerged wearing a shirt with mustaches printed on it with jeans and high-tops. Zayn was last to be ready because ‘having hair this nice takes time’ and he was dressed in black from head to toe with a leather motorcycle jacket to top it all off. When they had all ‘brushed their hair and combed their teeth’, as Harry liked to say, they stepped out the front door.

Every angel would agree that the first stretch of their wings each day is the best feeling in the world. It is a beautiful release and makes their skin roll into gooseflesh. Their bodies seem to glow with internal light. The air around them trembles in anticipation. With an arch of their back and a stretch of their shoulder blades, they feel their wings fan out behind them. The five boys remember the first time they spread their wings and how convinced they were that their clothes would be ripped apart. But in reality, wings are more like an extension of their minds, of their consciousness. They are not obvious white fathered affairs like birds have. True, one can see their form a little bit, but it comes more from the way the light caresses them, sending a sparkle towards the observer. Looking at an angel’s wings is simply a glint here, or a glimmer there. Gold and silver and bronze shimmering just enough to show that they exist. One feels the presence of wings, rather than sees them- they just are.

And so, with their wings expanded, Liam, Niall, Zayn, Louis and Harry took off to the Dispatch Hall to receive the day’s assignments.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞


	2. Enter Abnormality

Niall wandered over to the buffet table in the corner of the Dispatch Hall; it was a large room with ceilings so high they couldn’t be seen. The boys had been here for a while, watching as the other angels in their district received their assignments. Louis and Harry had been the first hundred-or-so called up to the podium, and now there were only about sixty angels left. Zayn and Liam shook their heads in wonder at Niall, a few feet away from him.

“He just ate most of our food and now he’s loading up on doughnuts? How?” asked Liam, thoroughly exasperated.

“I don’t know, man. I don’t know where he puts it all…” answered Zayn. Niall walked back over to them carrying a plate piled high with morning sweets and a bright smile. He caught a look at the frowns his friends were wearing and raised his eyebrows.

“What is it?” he asked around a mouthful of cinnamon roll. He quickly rubbed his hand over his chin and cheeks, assuming he had gotten food on his face, but his hand was clean when he pulled it away.

Zayn smirked beside him, “oh, nothing. Just. Well if you eat any more goodies, your wings are liable to give out on you.” Niall smiled despite the jab, punching Zayn in the shoulder and nearly losing a bagel.

“Eh, sod off. If you tasted this roll right now, you would—”

“NIALL HORAN AND LIAM PAYNE!” came a voice from the front of the room.

“Welp. That’s us mate, I guess we’ll be together for the day,” Niall said, gesturing to Liam, “what d’ya think we’ll get? I hope it’s somebody pretty…” he grinned and tapped Liam’s arm with his elbow. Niall shoved his plate of half-eaten food into Zayn’s hands and stalked off in the direction of the Commander’s podium, knowing Liam would follow.

Zayn looked at the plate in his hands “Ugh, why does he eat half of everything on the plate? Wasteful.” he complained, tossing it into a nearby bin. Liam smiled at him as if to apologize for their friend’s actions. He gave Zayn a hug and a lingering pat on the cheek, knowing he would see him again at the end of the day.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Harry was the first to arrive back at the house. He wasn’t really used to being alone, except for when he slept. His feet carried him aimlessly around the house until he ended in the kitchen. Arms hung heavy at his sides as he just stood there in the middle of the room, not knowing what to do with himself. He would start making dinner, but he wasn’t sure what the boys wanted, and who knew when they would be home. After a few long moments, he went to the living room and plopped down in an armchair, waiting.

Harry must have fallen asleep, because suddenly Louis was straddling his lap, tracing the planes of his face gently with the tips of his fingers to wake him up. The rest of the house was quiet, and it was just the two of them. Harry didn’t open his eyes, but when the fingers pulled away he frowned, making a noise of protest. Louis chuckled above him and Harry felt a shift in his weight. Louis was leaning forward and Harry’s heart was speeding up. He didn’t know what exactly he was expecting, but it wasn’t to feel his nose suddenly warm and wet. Louis giggled and leaned back when Harry squeaked, wiping his nose with the back of his hand.

“Did you just… Lick… You Licked my nose!” Harry gasped, rubbing his nose again. Louis laughed harder; it was horribly infectious, and soon both boys were rolling on the floor in a fit of giggles, spurred on when they would lick a random place on the other. Liam and Niall walked in the front door and found them in a knot of limbs. The boys on the floor froze; Harry with his tongue extended two inches from Louis’ elbow.

“Hi…” said Liam.

“Hi.” Harry replied sheepishly when he pulled his tongue back in. A wide smile cracked Niall’s face and he laughed.

“Well alright then!” Niall said, walking past the boys on the floor and into the kitchen. Louis narrowed his eyes at Liam, who was still standing in the doorway gripping the door handle, as if daring him to judge them. Liam simply shrugged and closed the front door before stepping over them on his way to follow Niall. Harry smiled widely and untangled the legs wrapped around his, scrambling to his feet and hauling Louis up with him. They just stood there and looked at each other for a quiet moment, Harry still holding Louis wrist, before a crash in the kitchen interrupted them. It sounded like Harry’s steel mixing bowls falling from the cupboard.

There were a couple of whispered shit!’s before Niall shouted “Don’t worry! I got this!” Harry sighed and put his face in his hand for a moment before walking over into the kitchen with Louis behind. Harry was right, all of his mixing bowls had tumbled to the floor and a very distressed Niall was trying to nest them inside one another and fit them back into the cupboard again, Liam watching nearby. The blonde boy on the floor smiled up at his friends apologetically, cheeks pink.

Harry crossed his arms and tapped his toe in contrived anger, but the smile in his eyes gave him away, “What were you even trying to do?” he scolded. Niall opened his mouth to explain that he was looking for a chocolate bar he had stashed earlier, but Harry didn’t give him the chance. “Oh, just get out of my kitchen,” he shouted, just as Zayn walked in the front door.

“Whoa, chill out, mate,” Zayn said as he poked his head over Harry’s shoulder to see what all the fuss was about. “Oh and also, hi. I’m home,” he added, smiling.

Niall hopped up from the floor and left the bowls behind to greet Zayn with a tight hug along with Louis and Liam before Harry shooed them all out of the room.

“Go, go go. Go on, all of you. Out,” Harry made the motion of sweeping them away, but then he paused, catching Louis’ eye. “Wait, no. Louis gets to help me.”

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

“So you’re telling me that these noodles are made of rice? That’s so… I don’t know. Interesting, maybe.” Louis said, examining a dry noodle very closely. They had all decided that something new was in order for dinner because they had eaten nothing but pizza and Oreo cookies the last four days. Harry was the one who suggested Pad Thai and although four heads nodded back at him, he had a feeling they were all more than a tad wary.

“Well yeah, Lou. It’s not that weird, lots of Chinese food has rice noodles.”

“I hardly eat Chinese, though. But if you say it’ll be good, I believe you”

Harry chuckled, “Yeah, but you’ve probably had them and didn’t even realize it. But anyway, it’s good to know I have your faith.”

Louis took a step closer, brushing his hand along Harry’s hip before climbing up to sit on the counter next to the stove, “you always have my good faith.” Harry was oblivious to Louis’ attempt at flirtatious banter as he cracked a couple eggs, one-handed, into the frying pan with the vegetables.

“Hey Lou will go fill that bowl up with really hot water and put the noodles into it?” Louis crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows expectantly. Harry sighed, “please, Lou?”

“Ah, that’s the magic word! But no, I’m not going near any really hot water because I always burn myself. But I’m happy to stir the vegetables!” Harry gave him an incredulous look.

“That makes no sense. You’re more likely to burn yourself on a hot frying pan than on hot water.”

“Welp, that’s my conditions. Take it or leave it, curly,” Louis said with a shrug.

“Fine,” Harry pulled Louis between himself and the stove to face the pan. He wrapped himself around Louis’ smaller frame and placed the handle of the wooden spoon in his hand. It was a good thing Harry couldn’t get a good look at Louis’ face; otherwise he would see the embarrassingly large smile there, brought on by a flurry of butterflies and Harry’s close proximity. Louis felt Harry wrap large hands around his, guiding one to grip the pan handle, and the other to push the food around the pan. He pressed close to Louis and spoke softly into his ear, “just stir it right like this. Don’t let anything sit in the same spot for too long, otherwise it’ll burn. Alright?”

Louis let out a shaky breath, “alright.” Harry stayed to guide Louis’ hands for a moment longer than was necessary before pressing his lips to his friend’s shoulder and stepping away to put the rice noodles in a bowl.

Both Harry and Louis had lost count of the number of times they had done this dance of lingering touches and ‘casual’ kisses. It never lead to anything more, although they wished it did. Their relationship drove them crazy when they put too much thought into it though, so they tried not to. If Harry was being honest, knowing Louis for the last seventy-something years without slapping a label on what they were to each other and moving forward drove him nuts. They were basically all over one another all the time anyway; so much so that the other boys got used to it and simply look on with fond smiles.

Harry smelled something burning… “Louis! You’re burning it,” Harry said, voice high in panic. He nearly dropped the bowl of water and noodles, trying to set them down and rush to the stove.

“No, I’m not! Look, everything’s fine,” Louis frowned and showed Harry the very not-burnt stir-fry.

“Well then what is burning?” Harry asked. Suddenly they heard a series of yelps and loud thumps coming from the floor above them. “Oh god…” Harry took the pan off the heat and followed close behind Louis as they went up the stairs to investigate.

In the hall bathroom at the top of the stairs, Liam was standing on the toilet and Zayn was crouched on the counter, looking around with wild eyes. The shower curtain laid smoking on the tile, recently stomped out, but half of it was already burned away. Niall was facing the shower stall wielding a lighter and a can of Zayn’s hairspray.

Louis gasped, “What the hell is going on—”

“HA! There’s the little shit!” Niall shouted. He ignited the lighter and used the hairspray to throw the flame out two feet in front of him. He leaned over to touch the flame to the corner of the granite shower, apparently after something. After a moment, he leaned back and eyed the place he attacked, satisfied.

Nobody said anything for a moment, but then the three boys in the bathroom erupted in a cheer. Liam and Zayn climbed down from their perches and pulled Niall into a hug, shouting and flailing their limbs excitedly. When they quieted down, Liam stepped back, shook his head, and slapped Niall lightly on the back of the head.

“You realize that was actually really dangerous, right?” he paused, “But thanks, you dope, I thought Zayn was going to have a heart attack for a moment.” Liam smiled at Zayn, who blushed deep red.

“I wasn’t that scared…”

“Yes you were,” Niall and Liam chorused.

Harry and Louis were still standing outside the bathroom, speechless, with their mouths hanging open. Louis found his voice when the others noticed his presence and asked, “Erm, is somebody going to let us in on what’s happening here?”

“Well,” Niall began, “Zayn was using the loo and Liam was in there too and—wait. Liam, why were you in the loo with Zayn?” Liam bowed his head and shrugged, stealing the blush Zayn’s cheeks held a moment ago. When it was clear he wasn’t going to give a real answer, Niall continued, “Whatever, anyway, they were in here and a spider ran by and Zayn freaked out. Liam was trying to smush it when I came in and took matters into my own hands because it was obvious that he wasn’t going to get it.” Niall shrugged.

Louis raised his eyebrows impossibly high and put his hands on his hips, “uh huh. And why did you feel that a mock flame-thrower was the right tool for the job?”

“I—I like fire? I dunno, I wasn’t thinking…”

“Obviously.”

There was a beat of silence before a realization hit Harry, “Wait, why was there a spider here at all? Heaven doesn’t have spiders…” Nobody had an answer for that, which was the most frightening part of the whole thing.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

After the five boys had calmed down and disposed of the burnt shower curtain, they sat down for dinner.

“I swear, sitting around watching old people brush their dentures and trying not to break a hip has to be the most boring thing ever,” Niall announced in regards to his and Liam’s assignment that day. “I mean, I love being an angel and all, I was born to do it, but man. I was pretty happy when we finally got around to helping that old lady dodge her grandson’s skateboard.”

“Oh, come now, it wasn’t that bad,” Liam said, patting Niall on the shoulder. He turned to the other boys, “I won a bet on how many pudding cups Mr. Walker could eat in one sitting. Niall bet it was only three, but it ended up being eight and a half. I’ve never seen someone love pudding like that,” he mused, twirling Pad Thai noodles around the tines of his fork.

Zayn snorted. “Well I spent the day helping a seven-year-old hide in the closet from her abusive father. I’ve been assigned protect her a couple times before and I swear, it’s a good thing I was there today to deflect his attention; he was completely mad.” The others nodded his head. Liam thought he knew the girl Zayn was referring to and he shuddered, remembering her father’s ugly face. “Yup. ‘Really took me back to my childhood,” Zayn added sourly.

“Ha,” Louis barked, “You think you got a blast from the past, I saved a kid today who was beaten within an inch of his life for being gay. That was basically my life story.” Harry frowned. He hated hearing about the trouble Louis had in his human life. Harry had come out of the closet as bisexual really early on, and people just sort of accepted him. He couldn’t imagine what being bullied would have been like. If they had known each other in life… things would have been very different for them. Harry likes to think they would have gotten married and maybe adopted children; there was a certain cottage nestled into the English countryside that he always had his eye on when he was alive and…

“Harry? Hello, can you hear me?” Liam’s voice pulled him out of his mind. Zayn was running his hand in front of Harry’s face, trying to catch his attention.

Harry shook his curls as if to toss out stray thoughts and realized that he had been making terrible heart eyes at Louis while he was thinking. “Huh? Oh… what were we talking about?”

“Liam was asking you about your assignment for the day,” Niall explained. “Were you even listening?” Louis patted Harry’s thigh and looked across the table at the other boys.

“My Hazza was just daydreaming. Weren’t you, Haz?” Louis turned to look at Harry with a glint in his eye as if he knew exactly what he had been thinking about.

Harry nodded, “Er, yeah. Sorry, mates. Anyway it wasn’t that exciting, although I felt pretty badass,” He rubbed his hands as if warming up to explain the story. “There was this lady and her couple of kids, and they were waiting for the train. There was nobody else on the platform, so they were all alone. I’d been following them around all morning and I just couldn’t figure out what they were gonna need because they all seemed pretty happy and safe. But, like, just before the train was coming, the two year old started fussing up. She was going on about some toy her mum refused to buy her earlier or something. When the lady turned to deal with her, the stroller the baby was in started rolling towards the tracks.” Harry drew out a pause for dramatic effect, and saw the other boys put down their forks in anticipation, “I just stood there, waiting for the lady or the girl to notice, but they didnt. The stroller just kept getting closer to the edge. And closer. And closer, until the train was right around the corner. And so just as the baby was falling down onto the tracks, the train came and—” Niall choked loudly on a gasp and grabbed at his heart, assuming the worst. “Woah calm down Niall, the story’s not done yet.”

“Just please tell me that you saved her.”

“Of course I saved her! I’d be a nervous wreck if I hadn’t! Damn, calm down,” Niall let out a sigh of relief and motioned for Harry to continue. “So as I was saying, the baby fell just as the train was coming ’round the corner, so I grabbed the stroller and tucked it under a little overhang under the platform. The train went right past, and the baby was no worse for the wear,” Harry said triumphantly as he used hand gestures to explain the situation.

“Wow.”

“Holy shit.”

“That’s insane!”

“That’s beautiful, Harry,” Louis said, smiling widely at him, “I’m so proud of you!” Harry blushed for a moment before Louis decided the moment called for more and swiveled in his chair, laying his head on Harry’s shoulder. He raised the back of his hand to his forehead dramatically, “you’re such a hero, babe!” he exclaimed, looking up at Harry. The other boys, including Harry, snorted, but smiled.

“Oh, get off! Don’t be so dramatic,” Harry said in mock-annoyance. When Louis didn’t move, Harry jabbed his finger into his ribs and Louis yelped, scooting to sit up straight. Louis mumbled something under his breath about just trying to be encouraging and everybody laughed.

As the laughter died down, Liam took a serious tone, “but do you guys ever wonder what the humans would do without us?”

“All the time,” Zayn replied. “I know my life would have been ten times worse if I hadn’t had angels around to protect me. Like, it wasn’t great, and I obviously died young, but, you know.”

“Yeah mate, we know. We all died young,” Niall answered. A heavy silence overtook the room, each boy remembering how they got there.

Harry had cancer; it snuck up on him and wiped him out in three months flat. Liam’s only kidney failed when he had gotten mono. Zayn’s drunken mother got them into a terrible car accident; she made it, but he wasn’t so lucky. Louis slipped on the tile of his school’s communal showers and cracked his head open on the sink; he probably would have lived, but the people that found him had always bullied him for being gay and thought he deserved it, leaving him there to die. Niall was camping deep in the woods with his family when things took a turn for the worse and they got lost and ran out of rations; when he came across some berries on the eighth day, he didn’t consider that they might be poisonous.

Louis was the first to move, declaring that the food had gone cold. He didn’t like to think about his human life, so he collected the plates and took them to the kitchen as a distraction. When he came back, Niall got them all laughing and they moved to the living room to talk and horse around until it felt like bed-time.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Harry closed his bedroom door not two moments before there was a small knock on the wood. When he opened it, Louis stood there, wrapped in his quilt with a sheepish expression.

“Can I sleep in here tonight?”

Harry was taken off guard a bit, “Er, sure. Of course. You know you’re always welcome.” Louis nodded, spreading his quilt over the top of Harry’s comforter, and snuggled into the sheets. Harry followed a moment later, after straightening the quilt Louis had laid crooked. He never could make a bed properly to save his life.

They laid there facing each other quietly for a while, Louis toying with Harry’s fingers under the covers.

“I’m sorry about today, Louis,” Harry said suddenly.

“What do you mean? Sorry for what?” Louis asked, but he already knew what Harry meant.

“I’m sorry you had to go and protect that kid from those bullies. I know it probably brought back some bad memories. I know you were upset when you talked about it,” Harry said softly, tracing the lines of Louis’ palm with his middle finger.

“It’s really alright, Haz.” Louis assured him. Harry didn’t seem convinced.

“Really?”

“Yeah. I know we both wish I had a better human life, but I think my life now sort of makes up for it.”

“What do you mean?”

Louis paused and tried to think of the proper way to word it, “Well even though my human life was shit, my angel life is pretty perfect, so it almost balances out.”

Harry laughed despite the serious nature of their conversation, “Pretty perfect? You’re stuck in a house with four smelly other boys but it’s pretty perfect, eh?”

“Mm hm. Because one of those boys is you,” Louis smiled. Harry was taken aback at his friend’s words. He knew that Louis loved him very much, but the sincerity he heard was unexpectedly wholesome.

“Oh,” was all Harry could manage. He saw Louis nod and watched a sad look color his expression. “Louis, are you sure nothing is bothering you?” There was a long pause where Louis lost himself in his own head and pinched Harry’s fingertips lightly, fidgeting.

When Louis finally spoke, his voice was rough. “Do you remember the first time we met?”

“Of course I do. How could I ever forget?” Harry squeezed the fingers snaking around his.

Louis’ voice dropped to a faint whisper, “I was so afraid that they wouldn’t let me into heaven because I was gay, let alone offer me a job as an angel. Hell, I didn’t even know that that was where angels came from,” Louis furrowed his brow. “I remember seeing you there, in the Processing Office. Waiting for your name to be called. You looked so young, but at the same time so calm; like you knew exactly what was going on—”

“—I didn’t—”

“I know. But like, you had all this time to think and speculate about what death would have been like when you were sick. I had never really liked to think about it. I assumed that all those people that told me I was going to hell for loving boys were right, I guess. But then I saw you, and I decided that no matter where I went, you were going to heaven,” Louis smiled at the memory. Harry wasn’t even sure that Louis was talking to him anymore, or if he was caught in a memory that he couldn’t help but let tumble from his lips. But he listened as Louis continued, “So I came to sit next to you and we told our stories to each other and I was both happy and scared for you when you told me you were bisexual because I couldn’t stand the thought of you being condemned like me… But then they called you into an office and left me in the waiting room and when you came back, you told me you were going to get to be an angel and I just remember being so ridiculously happy and so proud even though I had only just met you.” Louis paused to take a breath after he let all those words escape into the darkness.

“Then, as they called your name again to take you to heaven, you said you wanted to stay until I was placed. I remember feeling so pleased that you would rather stay with me, because if I had to see one last person before I was sent to hell, I was happy it would probably be you. But before I even knew what was happening, they pulled me into the office and told me how good and pure I was and told me I had the option of becoming an angel, too. I was so confused. When I asked the processor why he wasn’t condemning me, all he said was, ‘your soul is simply too good to go to waste’. That was the first time anybody had commended me for being a good person. It took dying for me to realize that I wasn’t as horrid as people made me out to be.” Louis’ had screwed his eyes shut at some point, but now he opened them. Harry thought that Louis was just upset about the boy he protected today, but apparently it was more than that. Even after over seventy years in heaven, Louis still had trouble accepting that he was good enough to be an angel, to save people, to know and to love Harry. A single tear escaped his eye and Harry grabbed it with the pad of his finger. He looked at it for a moment before drawing Louis close to him.

Harry held their bodies tight together and whispered into Louis’ hair, “Hush, now, it’s alright. Did you know that I thought the exact same things about you?” Louis shook his head and snuggled his nose into the crook of Harry’s neck, breathed in his scent. Harry smelled like… home, Louis thought. They both sighed and Harry ran his fingers through Louis’ soft brown hair. “I just knew you were going to end up here. And I thank my lucky stars every day that I met you in the Processing Office.”

“Oh, Haz, you’re too good; to me and in general.”

“Nobody could ever be too good to you, Lou. You’re so perfect and you deserve all the love in the world.” If anybody else would have said it, Louis would have brushed it off; but something about Harry made him believe it, if only for that moment.

“Yeah… Do I have your love, Harry?”

“You know you do.”

Louis gave a contented sigh and brought their bodies impossibly closer, nudging his toes along the side of Harry’s foot to warm them. He let out a breathy sigh, “I Love you, Harry.”

“I love you too, Louis.”

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Liam was just about to get into bed when he heard Zayn call his name from across the hall. Of course, he thought, he couldn’t go to bed without saying goodnight to Zayn.

“Hey, Li,” Zayn grinned as Liam took a seat on the edge of his bed. Zayn placed his hand in Liam’s and they took a moment to just sit there looking at each other, soaking up the company. There was something about Liam that made Zayn feel safe. He was the most responsible figure in the house, comparatively. And having never had decent parents in life, Zayn instinctively clung to Liam and his paternal nature as much as his loving, friendly side. Every night for as long as they can remember, Liam has sat with Zayn in those few moments before he fell asleep, hands clasped and smiles soft. Tonight, though, something was weighing on Zayn’s mind. He shifted in bed and frowned.

“What is it?” asked Liam, sensing there was something his friend needed to say.

“Well, I’m just worried about that spider thing—”

“He was probably just on your clothes when you came back from hiding in that girl’s closet with her all day.”

“No, that’s not what I mean. And you and I both know that’s not what happened. Something’s changing here in heaven, I can feel it, and it doesn’t seem good. I mean, I’ve never seen a spider, or anything else scary, up here.”

Liam’s eyes softened, “oh, come now. Everything’s fine. You can ask the Commander about it tomorrow, if it’ll make you feel better.”

“No, he’s been really busy lately; I don’t want to bother him.” Zayn said, shaking his head.

“Well, alright then, your choice. Just try not to worry too much, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Zayn smiled, “Good night, Li.”

“Goodnight mate, see you tomorrow. I love you.”

“I love you too.” Liam closed the door quietly behind him as he left. The second Zayn was alone in his room, his mind began to work overtime and his senses did the same. All that could be heard around him was shouted goodnight’s and whispered I love you’s. Zayn tossed and turned his way into a fitful sleep after a while. It was going to be a long night for him.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞


End file.
